The present invention relates to noise canceling in handsets such as mobile phones. Telecommunication is growing at an incredible rate. Accordingly, handset engineers are constantly trying to improve the communication experience for the user.
One major problem in telecommunication systems is the presence of background noise (ambient noise) that can interfere with the user's hearing (i.e., the user's ability to understand what is being communicated). Often times, a user may use a mobile phone in a noisy environment such as a restaurant, a train station, or on the street. The background noise prevents the user from hearing the caller's voice on the other end of the phone call (far-end speaker). Therefore, the user is unable to use his/her mobile phone in noisy environments as he/she would like to, which constrains the use of the mobile phone immensely. As a result, there is a need in the art to improve communication systems to enable handsets to be used in the presence of locally-generated noise without the background noise interfering with the user's hearing of the far-end speaker.
Unlike other audio listening systems such as headphones where the background noise is controlled and static because of headphone cushions, handsets encounter background noise that is dynamic, uncontrolled, and unpredictable. Thus, conventional noise canceling systems for headphones are not optimal for handset use.
Accordingly, the inventors recognized a need in the art for an adaptive noise canceling system that can adapt to real world conditions.